Some ingenious clues here
Across
1 STRAIGHT MAN feed STRAIGHT (regular) MAN (soldier)
7 MAP plan A in MP (politician)
9 KNIGHT chessman – sounds like NIGHT (dark)
10 STUD POKER game STUD[y] (read) POKER (fire-raiser)
11 CATERWAUL utter shrieks (AWARE CULT)*
12 HOIST lift I (one) in HOST (crowd)
13 REFUGEE exile REFUGE (island) [settl]E
15 NEED poverty NEE (born) D (died)
18 FUND pool FUN (diverting) D (daughter)
20 CLEMENT kind LE (the French) MEN (folk) in CT (court)
23 BLURB publisher’s hype BLUR (confused impression) B (book)
24 VANDALISE wreck V AND A (LIES)*
26 CONCIERGE warden (COERCING)* [calaboos]E
27 GOUDA cheese DOU< (pair over) in GA (Georgia)
28 SAY dd
29 GREEN-WELLIE county set GREEN (flourishing) WELL (fortunate) IE
Down
1 SINECURE cushy job IN (popular) in SECURE (firm)
2 RIGHT OFF immediately – sounds like WRITE OFF (cancel)
3 INTER bury – hidden in [ra]IN TER[rible]
4 HOSTAGE one held captive HO (house) STAGE (field)
5 MAUDLIN mawkish MAUD (girl) L (left) IN (home)
6 NIPCHEESE skinflint NIP CHEESE shot by mousetrap
7 MAKE IT be a success MAKE (fashion) I T[ravel]
8 PIRATE brigand P (power) IRATE mad
14 GRUMBLING moaning G[ang] RUMBLING (discovering truth)
16 RESIDUAL royalty payment (US ID)* in REAL (sincere)
17 STEERAGE dd
19 DIVERSE assorted DIVERS (several) E (English)
20 CONCERN dd
21 ABACUS counter A CAB< (taxi over) US (American)
22 QUINSY horrible illness QUINS 5 born together Y (unknown)
25 ARGUE quarrel A (URGE)
( )* = anagram [ ] = omit dd = double definition < = reverse
Thanks Jed.
As always an enjoyable and elegant puzzle from Falcon.
That said, I didn’t like 13ac (REFUGEE) and 19d (DIVERSE) very much as refuge/refugee and especially divers/diverse are too similar.
Apart from that certainly no complaints.
The explanation of 6d should read as a charade: NIP (shot, small amount of liquid) + CHEESE (mousetrap, perhaps – cheese of poor quality).
A straightforward puzzle – my only hold up was with the NIPCHEESE which I had never heard of before but have filed away for future use (not sure when, but you never know!)
Thanks to Falcon and Jed